Dobby (28 June(year unknown), - March1998) was a house-elf who served the Malfoy family. His masters were Dark Wizards who treated him cruelly. In 1992, he tried to warn Harry Potter of the plot to have the Chamber of Secrets reopened which he came to know via the contact between his masters and Lord Voldemort. Dobby had to keep punishing himself because he felt he was disobeying his masters. At the end of that school year, after Harry had vanquished the memory of Tom Riddle and the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, he trickedLucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby by placing the diary of Tom Riddle inside his own black sock; Lucius disgustedly removed the book from the sock and threw the sock into the air, where Dobby caught it.

After a period of unemployment, Dobby went on to work in the kitchens at Hogwarts, for which he was paid one Galleon a week, and got one day off each month. Albus Dumbledore also told Dobby that he was free to call him a "barmy old codger" if he liked. He had been accompanied to Hogwarts by his friend Winky, who had recently been dismissed and had agreed to go looking for work . In 1997, Dobby helped Harry spy on Draco Malfoy with Kreacher. In 1998, he went on Aberforth Dumbledore's orders to save the lives of Harry and his companions Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Mr. Ollivander, and Griphook from Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor and was fatally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife as he successfully apparated Harry and Griphook to safety in the Shell Cottage. Harry dug Dobby's grave in the gardens of Shell Cottage without using magic and placed Dobby's body inside. After Harry finished burying one of his most loyal friends, he carved a rock saying "Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf." placing it where Dobby was buried.

Dobby was often ostracised for having no "proper shame" about being out of work, the way most house-elves (including his friend Winky) acted. Dobby was generally pleased to be free, although he did enjoy working (as more of a hobby than a career). He was ecstatic to be out of the abusive hands of the Malfoys but equally pleased to join the Hogwarts staff, where he could come and go as he liked, didn't have many tasks, and those he did have were fairly simple. Dobby requested some compensations for his work and eventually he and Dumbledore came to an agreement, and so began Dobby's new, happy life nearby his closest friends: Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Contents

Biography

Serving the Malfoy family

Dobby was the resident house-elf of Malfoy Manor, serving Lucius Malfoy, his wife Narcissa, and their only son Draco. They treated Dobby with unkindness and cruelty, often reminding him to perform extra punishments on himself when he did something disagreeable to them. The Malfoys were harsh and abused Dobby often. Dobby was threatened many times during his time serving the Malfoy family and told Harry Potter that he was accustomed to death threats, because he received them 'five times a day' from the Malfoys. Though he always did as he was told, he knew that their behaviour was wrong and he longed to be free of them.[2]

Re-opening of the Chamber of Secrets

"Harry Potter must NOT go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year!"

Dobby went to the Dursley house to warn Harry not to go back to school, revealing that he had been intercepting his mail. Harry adamantly refused to comply, so Dobby performed a Hover Charm on Aunt Petunia's pudding, which was detected by the Ministry of Magic through the Trace.

Lastly, Dobby tried his most risky and dangerous plan by making a Bludger attack Harry during a Quidditch match, hoping to send him back to Privet Drive injured, but alive. This plan could not have been too well thought-out, because under normal circumstances Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, would have been able to mend Harry's injuries instantly. However, an unfortunate blunder by Professor Gilderoy Lockhart resulted in Harry losing all the bones in his right arm. Madam Pomfrey was able to regrow the bones by using Skele-Gro but it took an entire night. While Harry was in the hospital wing recovering, Dobby appeared and admitted his acts, enraging Harry to the point that he threatened to strangle him. Dobby implored Harry to leave, accidentally admitting that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before. Harry demanded to know who had opened it last time, but Dobby refused to reveal any more information and disapparated when he heard someone coming.[2]

A Free Elf

Near the end of Harry's second year, Lucius Malfoy came to the school with Dobby to see if it was true that HeadmasterAlbus Dumbledore had returned. Here, realising that Dobby belonged to the Malfoys, Harry tricked Lucius into giving Dobby one of his soiled socks in Tom Riddle's Diary, freeing him. When Lucius tried to attack Harry in retaliation, Dobby blasted him backwards down a flight of stairs. Harry's only request in return was for Dobby never to try to save his life again.

After becoming a free elf, Dobby struggled to find work, as he wanted to be paid. Eventually, he was hired by Albus Dumbledore to work in the kitchens of Hogwarts for a Galleon a week and one day a month off. Hermione Granger was initially indignant at the amount of pay, but Dobby explained that he requested that amount, as Dumbledore had offered ten Galleons a week and weekends off. It was just before this time that Hermione formed the organisation called S.P.E.W, which Ron often derisively called "spew".[3]

When Winky, Barty Crouch Sr's house-elf, was given clothes and freed of her servitude, she did not accept it as a reward, as Dobby had, but rather as punishment and a shameful failure in the fashion of most house-elves.[3] She took up work at Hogwarts as well, but she became a heavy drinker of butterbeer, and Dobby took care of her. For a time, Dobby was the only Hogwarts house-elf who would clean Gryffindor Tower, because Hermione had hidden woollen hats and socks in with the rubbish with the intention of freeing them. The Hogwarts house-elves refused thereafter to clean the common room, as they viewed the hidden clothes to be insulting.[4] This was a delight for Dobby, though, because it allowed him to see Harry Potter and his friends, including Ron Weasley, whom he called Harry Potter's "Wheezy."

Friendship with Aberforth Dumbledore

Dobby continued to work in the kitchens at Hogwarts, but was an outsider among the other elves in the castle. Over the course of his employment at Hogwarts, Dobby became close friends with Aberforth Dumbledore and spent much time at Aberforth's home in Hogsmeade. Aberfoth seemed to have a close attachment to Dobby, since he felt very sorry when he learned he died[5]

Dumbledore's Army

"Dobby knows the perfect place, sir! Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, sir, or else as the Room of Requirement!"

In 1995, when Dolores Umbridge banned all clubs at Hogwarts, Harry Potter half-heartedly asked Dobby if he knew of a secret place in which they could have meetings for Dumbledore's Army. Dobby, however, told him of the Room of Requirement and how to get into it. He knew of this secret room, because he had used it frequently to hide Winky after she became drunk. Harry Potter successfully made use of the room and thus was able to start holding Dumbledore's Army meetings.[4]

When Marietta Edgecombe betrayed Dumbledore's Army to Professor Umbridge, Dobby immediately warned Harry that the Inquisitorial Squad was going to attack, even though the house-elves had been forbidden to tell anyone. When he heard, Harry ordered Dobby not to punish himself.

Spying on Draco Malfoy

Dobby along with Kreacher, formerly the House of Black's house-elf who now belonged to Harry, tailed Draco Malfoy and helped Harry learn that Draco was using the Room of Requirement. Kreacher insulted Harry and stated that Draco would be a better master. Dobby fought him and knocked out several of his teeth and tearfully told him that Harry was a great wizard and that the Malfoys were not good masters for a house-elf. Dobby felt that helping Harry was an honour and didn't even sleep on his job.

Desperate at hearing Hermione's cries of pain from above, Harry frantically fidgeted with the fragment of the two-way mirrorSirius had given him years before and saw a sky-blue eye looking out of it at him. Harry pleaded for help from the owner of the eye, Aberforth Dumbledore, and shortly Dobby, sent by Aberforth, Apparated into the cellar. As he was able to Disapparate to and from the Manor, Harry instructed him to first take Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, and Mr. Ollivander from the cellar, then return. He did so, bringing the three to Shell Cottage, the home of Bill Weasley and his wife Fleur Delacour. From upstairs, where she was now questioning Griphook about whether or not the sword was the real one, Bellatrix heard the noise of Dobby Disapparating and sent Peter Pettigrew to investigate. Harry and Ron managed to overpower Pettigrew when he hesitated, reminded of his life debt to Harry, and his own magical silver hand strangled him to death.

Dobby, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Griphook about to escape from Malfoy Manor.

Attempting to rescue Hermione and Griphook, Harry and Ron were forced to surrender when a disarmed Bellatrix threatened to cut Hermione's throat with a silver knife. Dobby announced his return by causing a chandelier to fall on Bellatrix. Harry seized the wands Draco Malfoy was holding and used a stunning spell on Greyback. Ron grabbed Hermione and they Disapparated to Shell Cottage. Meanwhile Harry similarly grabbed Griphook and Disapparated.

As Harry disapparated, Bellatrix threw her knife at him. Harry, not knowing where he was heading, was relieved to find, in the midst of his Disapparition, that he could feel Dobby alongside. Arriving at Shell Cottage, Harry discovered that Dobby had been fatally wounded by Bellatrix's thrown knife. Dobby died moments later, his final words being "Harry... Potter".[5].

Post mortem

Harry, deeply grieving, decided to dig Dobby's grave by hand without using magic. Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas joined Harry and laboured with him in digging the grave. They placed Dobby's body in the grave and gave him socks, shoes, and a hat.

Harry digs Dobby's grave

Standing over Dobby, Luna Lovegood gently closed his eyes and thanked him for rescuing her and the others. Bill Weasley filled in the grave, while Harry used Draco's former wand and carved "HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF" on a flat rock he placed on the burial mound.

Dobby's grave at Shell Cottage.

Griphook was positively affected by Harry's display of humility and love for the house-elf, aiding him in his decision to help Harry retrieve a Horcrux from Gringotts Wizarding Bank. His death also helped close Harry's mind from Voldemort and gave him greater control over when he could access the Dark Lord's thoughts. Kreacher, Harry Potter's own inherited house-elf, led the house-elves of Hogwarts in the Battle of Hogwarts, moved by Harry's good treatment of house-elves.[5]

Physical description

Dobby

Dobby was a house-elf, much shorter in stature than humans, standing only about 3 and a half feet (1.06 m). He had large, tennis-ball-like green eyes, a pencil-like nose and long, bat-like pointed ears. Before he was given freedom, he wore a body-covering pillowcase. Later at Hogwarts, he wore a mismatched variety of jumpers, shorts, and socks. Socks became his favourite clothing after he was freed by Harry's sock. He preferred colourful, mismatched socks. When Hermione Granger began hiding clothes she made around the Gryffindor Common Room in an attempt to free the Hogwarts house-elves, Dobby kept the clothes and began wearing them, as the other elves thereafter refused to clean Gryffindor Tower.

Personality and traits

"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter, of course. Dobby will always be there for Harry Potter."

Dobby was a brave, loyal house-elf, willing to put himself in dangerous situations when he knew it to be the right thing to do. He was also very loyal to the few friends he had. He considered himself to be a good house-elf, though other house-elves seemed to find his desires and proclamations of being a free house-elf to be shameful. Despite this, he was still a hard worker. When he went to work at Hogwarts he refused Dumbledore's original offer of ten Galleons a week and weekends off, opting instead for one Galleon a week and one day off per month. He explained to Harry, Ron, and Hermione that he liked freedom very much, but he liked work better. Dobby thought of Harry as his best friend.

Because of his loyalty to his friends, Dobby tries everything he can to save them if they are in danger, even if it hurts them (this led to Harry asking Dobby to never try to save him again after setting him free), and once attempted to seriously injure Harry Potter, hoping that if he was hurt badly enough he would be sent home. He did not make the rogue bludger chase Harry out of malicious intent, but because he was trying to save him from Lucius Malfoy's plot to open the Chamber of Secrets. When Harry found out he was furious but Dobby explained why he had tampered with the bludger and by the end of the year Harry had forgiven him.

One most noticeable trait was how he punished himself every time he believed he had done something wrong, usually using something to hit his head or going as far as to iron his own hands.

Dobby's favourite gift to receive was socks, likely because he was freed from his enslavement to the Malfoys with a sock. He would get confused when he would get two of the same style and would often give socks as gifts as well.

Dobby referred to himself in the third person and tended to get his verb conjugation mixed up. Examples of his strange speech pattern include "I has seven now sir" or "Dobby must punish himself most grievously for coming sir". Dobby referred to Ron as Harry's "Wheezy."

He was extremely devoted to Harry Potter after Harry freed him in 1993, helping him out on several occasions, ultimately at the cost of his own life. He also tried to help Winky after she was dismissed by Crouch, getting her a job at Hogwarts as well, and looking after her whenever she became drunk on butterbeer.

Magical abilities and skills

Dobby disapparating.

Apparition: Because he was a house-elf, Dobby was able to apparate even inside places that normally forbade Apparition such as Hogwarts. Even after being stabbed by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife, Dobby still managed to take Harry to their intended destination just before he died.

Levitation: Dobby displayed the ability to levitate a cake when trying to stop Harry from returning to Hogwarts.

Tampering magic: Dobby also displayed a talent for tampering with objects. This was shown when he tampered with a bludger forcing it to chase Harry hoping that if it hurt him badly enough he'd be sent home. Naturally Dobby was not intending to kill Harry; in fact he was trying to save him from Lucius Malfoy's plan to open the Chamber of Secrets. Also, he tampered with the barrier that leads to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, a very powerful magical barrier.

Magical Blasts: By clicking his fingers, Dobby can release powerful blasts of magic at other creatures or wizards and witches.

Disarming: Dobby displayed the ability to disarm wizards and witches of their wands with a snap of his fingers, much like the charm itself.

Possessions

Harry Potter's sock: This sock once belonged to Harry Potter and was given to the Dobby by Lucius Malfoy (his master). Harry tricked Lucius by presenting him with Tom Riddle's diary, having shoved his sock inside. When Lucius took the sock out of the diary, he threw the small and probably dirty piece of clothing away and Dobby caught it, rendering him free. Dobby kept that sock on until the day he died.

Relationships

Harry Potter

Dobby and Harry Potter had a very strong relationship. When Harry first meets Dobby he is a bit confused. Throughout the year, when Dobby made attempts to drive Harry away from Hogwarts, causing some rather unpleasant results on the way, Harry made some threats that were never followed through. Near the end of the 1992–1993 school year, Harry freed Dobby from the slavery of the Malfoy family. Lucius became angry and intended to attack Harry but Dobby protected him by using a defensive spell. Dobby may have realised that he underestimated Harry Potter, when Harry managed to stop Lucius' plot and survive the Chamber of Secrets.

Malfoy family

Dobby was the house-elf of the Malfoy family. Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy treated Dobby cruelly and were very sadistic to him. Dobby feared them, but did everything they ordered him to. In 1993, Harry Potter freed Dobby by tricking Lucius into unknowingly giving Dobby a sock. Lucius became angry and attempted to attack Harry, but Dobby blasted him down a flight of stairs. The last time Lucius saw Dobby was in 1998, when Dobby came to Malfoy Manor to rescue Harry Potter and his friends. Dobby was eventually killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. It is unknown how the Malfoys reacted when they learned of it.

Ron Weasley

Dobby first met Ron Weasley in 1994 in the Hogwarts kitchens, where Dobby worked. Ron was a close friend of Harry Potter. When Dobby talked with Harry and Ron about his life as a free elf, Ron started to like Dobby, and offered him a maroon sweater his mother had made, making the house-elf excited. When Ron was used as a "hostage" for the Triwizard Tournament, Dobby who had learned of the Second Task from the fake Mad-Eye Moody, became fearful of Harry losing his "Wheezy" (Dobby's name for Ron) to the merpeople and was manipulated by the fake Moody into stealing gillyweed for Harry. Ron and Dobby met again three years later, in 1997, when both Harry and Ron were at the hospital wing; Harry wanted Dobby to spy on Draco Malfoy because he believed he was a Death Eater. However, Ron didn't agree with this. In 1998, Harry, Ron, Hermione Granger and others were imprisoned at Malfoy Manor and Dobby came for their rescue. However, he was killed during the battle by Bellatrix Lestrange. Ron then respected Dobby very much and thanked him for saving his life. He also gave Dobby his shoes and socks to be buried in.

His death seemed to finally drive home to Ron the sorry life that house-elves lived, as during the Battle of Hogwarts, Ron voiced the opinion that they should evacuate the house-elves, or else risk another death like Dobby's. Dobby, as an inadvertent result, thus helped Ron and Hermione begin their relationship. Overcome by his thoughtfulness towards elves, Hermione kissed Ron for the first time.

Hermione Granger

Hermione Granger also met Dobby for the first time at the Hogwarts kitchens, where the latter worked. Hermione appeared to like Dobby, because he loved his freedom and because he wanted to make the other house-elves want freedom too. During her fifth year at Hogwarts, Hermione spent most of her time making clothes and hiding them in many places of the Gryffindor Common Tower. However, the house-elves stopped cleaning those places once they found the first of the clothes, as they didn't want to take them. Thus, Dobby cleaned Gryffindor Tower by himself, taking and wearing all of Hermione's knitted clothes. Dobby and Hermione didn't meet again until 1997, when Harry had sent Dobby to spy on Draco Malfoy. When Dobby came to the Malfoy Manor to rescue them, Hermione was being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Dobby then brought them to Shell Cottage but was killed by Bellatrix by her throwing a knife and stabbing Dobby during the Apparition.

Winky

Dobby was first seen with Winky, a female house-elf, in 1994. Earlier that same year, Harry had mistaken Winky for Dobby at the Quidditch World Cup. Winky excitedly told Harry that she knew Dobby, too; they evidently were friends previous to 1994 even though their relationship was only first displayed that year. Winky was given clothes by her master, Barty Crouch. Unlike Dobby, who loved his freedom, Winky was depressed and thought she was useless. When Dobby expressed his opinion that his life as a free elf was better than as a servant, he made her believe that he was a “bad house-elf”. So, Dobby tried in vain to convince her that she could live without serving the Crouch family by finding them both jobs at Hogwarts. It is known that Winky eventually managed to get over the fact that she was fired, although Dobby had died by then.

Kreacher

Dobby and Kreacher, another house-elf, didn't have a good relationship. Firstly, Kreacher strongly disliked Harry Potter because he was a friend of many Muggle-borns and “blood-traitors" and because Harry initially wasn't very nice to Kreacher. Dobby loved and respected Harry very much for a variety of reasons; these differing viewpoints on Dobby's hero/best friend was mostly the reason why the two house-elves often fought with each other. In 1996, they fought in the hospital wing because Kreacher had badmouthed Harry. Harry attempted to make them stop, but then Peeves appeared and encouraged them to hit each other. Furthermore, Harry told both Dobby and Kreacher to go and spy on Draco Malfoy; even then, they argued: When they reappeared to give a report, Dobby was angry that Kreacher hadn't informed him that he was going to Harry. Dobby didn't want it to seem like he hadn't been helping, as Kreacher was trying to make it out. However, Kreacher later started to respect Harry and be less prejudiced in general. It is possible that, since Kreacher had contact with the Hogwarts kitchen house-elves, he had contact with Dobby, too, and their common ground caused a release of the bad blood, but it is unknown. Dobby might not have learned about Kreacher's change before he was killed in 1998.

Hogwarts Kitchens House-elves

Dobby started his work at the Hogwarts Kitchens in 1994, a year after he was freed by Harry Potter. He loved his life as a free elf, something that the other house-elves who worked at the kitchens did not. They believed Dobby was mad and there was a great difference between their ideology and Dobby's, about a house-elf's life. Thus, he didn't have such a good relationship with his co-workers, as they believed that a house-elf should not have any personal life when they had to work and serve their masters. However, their opinion about Dobby might have changed during their later years at Hogwarts. During the Battle of Hogwarts all the house-elves, with Kreacher as a leader, fought against the Death Eaters, without anyone ordering them to do so. This indicates that they learned a house-elf can have a personal opinion, and that they should have as many rights as the humans. Unfortunately, Dobby had died by then.

Albus Dumbledore

Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was considered by many people (including Dobby) as the greatest wizard of all time. Dobby always admired Dumbledore, because he was kind to everyone, even to the house-elves, and because he opposed Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore met Dobby in 1993, when he was still the servant of the Malfoy family. In 1994, Dobby asked Dumbledore for a job at the Hogwarts Kitchens and the headmaster gave him the job, offering a much higher salary than Dobby expected and gaining the house-elf's respect. He also permitted Dobby to call him as he wanted (such as "a barmy old codger"). Dobby was very fond of Dumbledore and knew he would never insult him, but he was awed by Dumbledore's gift of freedom of speech. Dumbledore died in 1997; it is unknown how Dobby reacted, or whether he attended his funeral.

Aberforth Dumbledore

Over the course of his employment at Hogwarts, Dobby became close friends with Aberforth Dumbledore, and spent much time at Aberforth's home in Hogsmeade, getting to and from the school through a secret tunnel. As Aberforth was an old and grumpy person, he didn't have a good relationship with many people. However, Aberforth himself stated that he liked Dobby. In 1998, Harry Potter and his friends were captured by Snatchers and imprisoned at the Malfoy Manor cellar. Harry asked for help while looking at a two-way mirror; Aberforth had the other mirror. He sent Dobby to rescue them; the house-elf did so, but was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. After that, Aberforth told Harry, Ron and Hermione that he was really sorry, as he liked Dobby.

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "dobby" is an old English word for a benevolent elf that would perform household tasks secretly in the night, like the elves in tales of the elves and the shoemaker. However, just as those elves disappeared when the shoemaker made them shoes, so the dobbies were said to disappear when offered clothing. Also called a Brownie. A dobby is also a small mechanical part in a loom that enables the weaver to create small geometric patterns.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, when Luna calls him 'Sir' in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, Dobby speaks how he likes her in first person, as he and Kreacher had always spoken in the third person. And just before taking her and Mr. Ollivander out of the Manor, he tells Harry and Ron: "Meet me at the top of the stairs in 10 seconds". Additionally, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Harry tells Dobby he hasn't met many decent wizards, he replies: "I haven't".

In the second book, Harry asks Dobby to promise to not save his life again, but 5 books later Dobby does because he is the last hope of getting out of Malfoy Manor. He loses his life by doing so because of Bellatrix Lestrange throwing a knife into his chest. According to Harry, Dobby also saved his life with the Gillyweed.

The first and last thing Dobby ever said to Harry was, "Harry Potter."

Dobby appears in five of the books but only appeared in two of the films.